The invasion has arrived! Greetings, Commanders! It's finally time to defeat the alien invasion - Xenonauts 2 is AVAILABLE NOW in Steam Early Access! Wage a global war of resistance against an alien invasion. Command turn-based tactical battles, build a network of covert bases, directly control your fighter wings, and achieve strategic victory in a simulation of asymmetric warfare against a technologically superior foe.

Xenonauts 2 is a strategy game that puts you in charge of a multinational military organization tasked with eliminating an extraterrestrial threat. Working from the shadows, you must seek out and engage the growing alien presence wherever it appears. Expand and manage a covert network of bases across the globe. Pursue research and development to bridge the technological gap with the alien invaders. Train, arm, and command your ground troops wherever the alien threat emerges.

Sony Corporation was in a boastful mood back in March of this year—Hiroki Totoki, the firm's executive deputy president and CFO declared that a $5+ billion (JP¥700 billion) budget had to been allocated for strategic investments across several departments in 2023. At the time it was not made clear how much of that pot would be assigned to Sony Interactive Entertainment/PlayStation, but a new report published by Nikkei Asia's Business section has revealed that the Japanese multinational conglomerate is set to open up and reach deep into its "war chest."

As its battle with Microsoft/Xbox heats up, Sony has designated a 300 billion yen (converting roughly to $2.13 billion) to research and development for its game division for the fiscal year ending in March 2024. This is reportedly 40% of its total R&D spending, which will exceed its investments in two other key interests—namely electronics and semiconductors. Nikkei notes that "earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the company's game business was about 337 billion yen ($2.4 billion) last fiscal year, up more than 60% from five years ago." Sony anticipates that the live service gaming market will hit a high of $19 billion in 2026, so it is shifting priorities from its traditional hardware-based model to an online system where customers are expected to buy add-ons for streamed content. Its $3.7 billion buyout of Bungie in 2022 formed a central pillar for this new strategy—the MMORPG-specialist studio is reportedly serving as a consultant on several live service projects in development at other SIE-owned outfits. The main goal seems to a targeted launch of 12 live service titles by the fiscal year ending March 2026.

Intel has informed ecosystem partners about the cessation of direct investment in its Next Unit of Compute (NUC) business—ServeTheHome was the first outlet to report on this development earlier today, following industry rumors cropping up on Monday. Intel has been pulling back on non-core business operations—back in April its server building operation was sold to MiTAC. Today's announcement signals Team Blue's exit from the PC building industry—their (internally manufactured) NUC products included SFF computers, kits, laptop reference systems and boards.

Intel sent an official statement to HardwareLuxx (translated from German): "We have decided to stop direct investment in the Next Unit of Compute (NUC) Business and pivot our strategy to enable our ecosystem partners to continue NUC innovation and growth. This decision will not impact the remainder of Intel's Client Computing Group (CCG) or Network and Edge Computing (NEX) businesses. Furthermore, we are working with our partners and customers to ensure a smooth transition and fulfillment of all our current commitments."

Samsung Electronics, a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today announced its latest foundry technology innovations and business strategy at the 7th annual Samsung Foundry Forum (SFF) 2023. Under the theme "Innovation Beyond Boundaries," this year's forum delved into Samsung Foundry's mission to address customer needs in the artificial intelligence (AI) era through advanced semiconductor technology.

Over 700 guests, from customers and partners of Samsung Foundry, attended this year's event, of which 38 companies hosted their own booths to share the latest technology trends in the foundry industry.

As we enter the last week of June. we're looking at AA title as this week's big release and it involves scantily clad men and women in a ring. The rest of this coming week's releases involve farming on alien planets, feuds with friends, oldtimers, tricky ghosts and a pair of turn-based games.

AEW Fight Forever / This week's AA title / Thursday 29 June
Developed by YUKE's, AEW: Fight Forever combines nostalgic arcade-wrestling with All Elite Wrestling finishers and moves. Featuring a big roster of AEW talent, multiple match types, robust career mode, tons of customization options, more than 40 weapons, and so much more!

Intel's integrated device manufacturing (IDM) has been experiencing a lot of trouble in recent years, and the company is not a leading-edge semiconductor manufacturer, with TSMC taking the pole position. However, the new restructuring hopes to change some of the business operations to increase its efficiency and establish Intel as the go-to foundry for customers. David Zinsner, Executive Vice President and the Chief Financial Officer, alongside Jason Grebe, Corporate Vice President & GM of the Corporate Planning Group at Intel, joined investors to explain how IDM will transform into a next-generation business. Intel IDM, including Intel Foundry Services (IFS), will get a new operation model, which will put IDM as an almost separate business unit with its own profit and loss (P&L) statement published in the quarterly/yearly financial report.

According to Intel, the company's IDM 1.0 strategy has been serving it well, but IDM 2.0 is needed to build next-generation nodes as the capital required for them is massive. Intel hopes to regain node leadership with the Intel 18A node in 2025. The company's strategy is still to have IFS as the second biggest external foundry business, presumably just behind TSMC. Putting IDM into its own P&L will result in $8-10 billion in "cost reduction opportunities, " including ramp rates, test time, and sort times based on the market pricing, not Intel's pricing. At the start, IDM is expected o start with a negative operating margin. Intel also states that keeping IFS as a business unit allows the company to simultaneously develop products on it and de-risk it for customers who want to build on IFS. The company is developing five different products (assuming packaging) on Intel 18A, all of which will be available for customers to use as well.

In honor of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Paradox Interactive and Nimble Giant Entertainment, under license from Paramount Consumer Products, revealed a new trailer and details for Star Trek: Infinite, a grand strategy game coming this Fall. Recently announced at Summer Games Fest 2023, Star Trek: Infinite takes players on a thrilling journey through space, placing them in the heart of the galactic struggles between the powers of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. Star Trek: Infinite, with its emergent gameplay and complex choices, launches on PC this Fall.

Though this game draws inspiration from the iconic Star Trek: The Next Generation, this story isn't just about one ship. Star Trek: Infinite puts players in command of one of four major powers in the galaxy: the United Federation of Planets, Romulan Star Empire, Cardassian Union, or Klingon Empire. Each major power possesses individualized traits, stories, quests, and more to make their play feel distinct. Players can send fleets to explore the Alpha and Beta quadrants, manage an economy, and navigate diplomatic endeavors.

A FREE DEMO of Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is playable now during Steam Next Fest! We're absolutely excited for you to experience a part of Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew firsthand before its official release on August 17, 2023. It'd help us a lot if you could share your first impressions of the demo on all community and social media channels that you are active on with a link to the Steam page and the hashtag #playshadowgambit. Also, tell your friends and family about it and get them to play the demo, talk about Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew and mention it everywhere you can.

The demo is now playable for everyone during Steam Next Fest from June 19 to 26. Don't forget to add the game to your wishlist, too! Thank you for your support! It means a ton to us. Now, get ready to assemble your cursed pirate crew. Enjoy your first trip to the Lost Caribbean! 🏴‍☠️

Paradox Interactive and developer Harebrained Schemes today announced that The Lamplighters League and the Tower at the End of the World, the globetrotting tactical turn-based strategy game, will launch on October 3, 2023, for PC and Xbox Series X|S. Paradox and Harebrained Schemes also revealed the Deluxe Edition, featuring an additional playable character. Pre-order the base game now on Steam, Epic, Xbox, and the Microsoft Store.

With the Deluxe Edition, players can recruit the mysterious Nocturne, a macabre spectrophysicist who was marooned in an alternate dimension, and returned forever altered. Nocturne manipulates her body's electric field to inflict Shock Damage on her enemies while also supercharging her cutting-edge suit to enhance her abilities.

"I am the rising dawn... and I will lead us into a new age!" Check out our first Total War: PHARAOH gameplay showcase (below) and get better acquainted with our first faction leader, Ramesses - a young Egyptian warrior eager to fulfil his true destiny!

In Total War: Pharaoh, the newest entry in the award-winning grand strategy series, immerse yourself in ancient Egypt at the zenith of its power and experience the dramatic events that threaten its destruction.

11 bit studios have released brand new trailers today for Frostpunk 2—the highly-anticipated society survival sequel—and The Invincible—an adventure based on the sci-fi novel by Stanislaw Lem of the same name and developed by Starward Industries—as part of today's PC Gaming Show. Accompanied by mercifully rhythmic strokes of the hammer, 11 bit studios is thrilled to announce that Frostpunk 2, the sequel to award-winning, bestselling city-builder, Frostpunk, will launch on PC in 2024.

Thirty years have passed since the vicious storm that concluded the first chapter of humankind's survival story in Frostpunk. The City, settled around the Generator and its life-giving warmth, grew and progressed as the years ticked on. Years of whiteouts have changed the world, giving it a clean slate with which to write a new post-apocalyptic part of its story. Despite the noose of oppression again starting to tighten on a society that is struggling for life-preserving supplies—and increasingly bothered by inner squabbles after recent events—the world is once again facing an era of possibly prolific expansion.

This coming week we have a AAA racing title coming for those that are into games which involve driving vehicles at dangerously high speeds. For those of you that prefer something else, we have space battles, RPGs, Will Smith, horror and theme park related games, although several of those titles seem to incorporate danger and high speeds as well.

F1 23 / This week's AAA title / Friday 16 June
Be the last to brake in EA SPORTS F1 23, the official videogame of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship, featuring all the updated 2023 cars with the official F1 lineup of your favorite 20 drivers and 10 teams.

PlaySide Studios is excited to announce their first publishing deal in partnership with Rocket Flair Studios, who are the indie developers of Dynasty of the Sands. 2024 will see Dynasty of the Sands launch into Early Access on Steam, so be prepared to enter a realm of limitless possibilities and to have the adventure of a lifetime.

What is Dynasty of the Sands?
Dynasty of the Sands is an Ancient Egypt-inspired creative/survival city builder hybrid set in a stunning open world. You and you alone are the creator and protector of your society's destiny. Help your Empire seamlessly run itself by creating laws and mandates, allowing you to focus on the most important aspects of building the mightiest of dynasties.

Sony Group Corporation is reported to be considering a partial spinoff and listing of its financial services division, in order to raise capital for further investments in its entertainment arm and next generation image sensor technologies. Reuters has published details from a corporate strategy meeting that took place last week (on May 18) - executives at the Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation are contemplating the future of Sony Financial Group. This arm of the business is comprised of several subdivisions including a bank and an insurance firm. Sony Corporation managed to gain full control of these finance organizations three years ago, according to Reuters.

Sony is seeking to retain a stake of just below 20%, and posits that its financial businesses will gain the ability (following the suggested partial spinoff and listing) to raise cash independently for sustainable growth. The company hopes to provide extra funds for its entertainment and semiconductor operations that "need an unprecedented amount of investment." The PlayStation group is aiming to ramp up production of its PS5 console - supply chain problems have caused delays and unit shortages in the past, and Sony is keen to build on the gaming platform's success, without restrictions going forward. The company is keen to advance its camera parts division - in order to meet increasing market demand for smartphone and vehicle sensor components. Hiroki Totoki (President of Sony Group Corp) emphasized that greater investments in these sectors will allow the company to stay competitive large global rivals.

According to brand new information sent to the press and influencers yesterday, AMD has likely made a last minute change to its pricing strategy - VideoCardz has communicated with insider sources and confirms that an official email contains this message: "The Radeon RX 7600 will now be available starting at an SEP of $269 USD, beginning on May 25."

Industry experts were predicting a $299 MSRP for the upcoming Radeon RX 7600 graphics card lineup, based on possible earlier communications (under embargo) from AMD, but the company has seemingly decided to change its pricing strategy ($269/€299) only three days before the May 25 launch. Its monolithic RDNA 3 Navi 33 XL GPU (6 nm) is set to go head-to-head against NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4060 Ti graphics card range later this week - the latter's specifications look to be superior according to leaked info - so Team Red could be making adjustments in order to stay competitive in the lower-end gaming-oriented GPU market.

Jim Ryan, the current President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, has once again confirmed his company's committal to staggering the launch of PlayStation ports onto the PC platform. Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu published an interview last week, and western news outlets have spent time over the past weekend translating and analyzing this article. The contents/discussion focuses mostly on Sony Corporation's strategies for its PlayStation 5 console in their native market. Ryan addresses the interviewer's question about the growing popularity of gaming on PCs in Japan (the nation has historically favored home console platforms): "I think that's a very good thing. When considering the multifaceted development of game IP, PCs are indispensable for allowing more people to enjoy games in a variety of ways. I think (that) more is better."

Ryan was asked about the possibility of simultaneous first-party game launches on PS5 and PC platforms in the future - his answer points to the company not deviating from its normal operating strategy: "We also fully understand the importance of PS5 exclusive titles. As I mentioned earlier, PlayStation Studios' main responsibility is to make games for the latest PlayStation hardware that players will enjoy. We are increasing the number of PS5 exclusive games, and staggering the release of the PC versions." Ryan claims to have received positive feedback from gamers about this matter: "I often have the opportunity to ask game fans for their opinions, and when I ask them how they feel about the time lag, they often say they feel the release of a PC version two or three years after the release of the PlayStation version is acceptable. It's a community that we should cherish the most. We will continue to listen to the voices of game fans and develop various titles in a multifaceted manner."

Following the recent Q1 2023 financial report with declining revenue, Intel is restructuring its Client Computing Group (CCG) and Data Center Group (DCG). These two units were hit the hardest, with 38 and 39% downturns, respectively. According to Dylan Patel of SemiAnalysis, and a statement from Tom's Hardware, we have information that Intel will be conducting budget cuts to CCG and DCG, with some layoffs. As Dylan Patel notes, Intel will cut CCG and DCG budgets by 10%, resulting in as much as a 20% reduction of the workforce inside those two groups. Additionally, this was supported by Intel's spokesperson, who issued a statement for Tom's Hardware stating the following:

Intel SpokespersonIntel is working to accelerate its strategy while navigating a challenging macro-economic environment. We are focused on identifying cost reductions and efficiency gains through multiple initiatives, including some business and function-specific workforce reductions in areas across the company.

We continue to invest in areas core to our business, including our U.S.-based manufacturing operations, to ensure we are well-positioned for long-term growth. These are difficult decisions, and we are committed to treating impacted employees with dignity and respect.

There's a 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐦 coming. ⛈️Get ready to rain down pain when Storm arrives in Midnight Suns on May 11! Expand your adventure with Storm in Blood Storm, the fourth and final post-launch DLC for Marvel's Midnight Suns. Storm can unleash powerful wind and lightning based attacks, bringing with her 10 unique Hero abilities. Plus, enjoy new story missions, a brand new Abbey Upgrade, and some fresh cosmetics for one of the most powerful mutants on the planet!

Generally regarded as one of the most powerful mutants on the planet, Storm, real name Ororo Munroe, was orphaned at a young age and taken in by a village priestess while traveling to her mother's home in Kenya. When their village was suffering during a drought, Ororo used her newly awakening powers to summon much-needed rain to save her family. Years later, when word of her ability to control the weather had spread, Ororo was recruited to the X-Men by Charles Xavier and took the name Storm. She went on to lead the X-Men, using her mutant abilities to help people all over the world. While searching for an endangered mutant child in New York with Wolverine, Storm meets up with Magik, who encourages her to join the Midnight Suns in Blood Storm.

As we leave the month of April behind us and move into May, we kick off the new month with a AAA horror first person shooter from Bethesda. The first week of May also brings a AAA 4X title, giant turtles, a Halo like game that adds an RTS element, multiple adventure titles and a game that's all about running away from conscription in the Russian army. Not a bad start to the month of May, if we may say so.

Redfall / This month's AAA title / Tuesday 2 May
The town of Redfall is under siege by a legion of vampires who have cut the island off from the outside world. Trapped with a handful of survivors, slay alone or squad up in open-world FPS action.

Revival: Recolonization is a 4x strategy game set on a post-apocalyptic version of Earth, where the terrain and rules of engagement can change during key moments. Players will lead a fledgling band of people as they rise up, improve their technologies - using all manner of weapons, from ballista to war elephants - and lead Humanity to re-take the Earth from an insane AI.

Revival: Recoloniation is the first entry in the Revival franchise to appear on PC. The first two entries debuted on feature phones. Revival: Recolonization, will enter Early Access on June 28, 2023, on Steam.

Cult of the Lamb's first major content update is OUT NOW! The Lamb must keep their Cult flourishing, their Followers faithful, and their power unchallenged as they crusade in this free content expansion, Relics of the Old Faith. It adds brand new ways to spread the gospel of the Cult of the Lamb with powerful new abilities, exciting new characters, and thrilling new challenges.

Relics of the Old Faith adds huge new content, replayability and many features. Relics of the Old Faith is an ENORMOUS free update to Cult of the Lamb. We've listened to many of your requests and have been working since launch to add everything we possibly could. There's so much that it can't fit into one News post, but we're going to try…

Sometimes Dota gameplay patches are small. Sometimes they can get pretty big. This one... is huge. It's got all the things you were probably expecting - balance changes, new items, hero reworks, UI improvements. But we also included a few changes you probably weren't expecting, like a new hero attribute type and - brace yourself - the map is now 40% bigger.

But all these new gameplay features won't matter if the match you get into isn't a good one. So we're also shipping some much-needed matchmaking improvements. Excited? Confused? Head on over to the New Frontiers update page for all the details. But don't head over just yet, read this sentence first: The Berlin major is on April 26th, and Fantasy/Player Cards are now available. Okay, now go. Here's the link again.

As we're about to enter the second half of April, we have a pretty busy week of new game releases to look forward to, many of which are family friendly. This week's AAA title is all about Zombies, but we also have two AA titles, one that's related to Minecraft and the other with Disney. The rest of this coming week's releases are a mixed bag that includes pets, fountains and tin hearts of all things.

Dead Island 2 / This week's AAA title / Friday 21 April
This thrilling First-Person, Action RPG takes players across a brand-new playground - a hellish vision of LA (or HELL-A, as we like to call it). Dead Island 2 is stylish, vibrant and flooded with zombie infection. Explore iconic, gore-drenched Los Angeles. Meet larger-than-life characters. Slay countless foes in exquisitely bloody detail. And evolve to become the ultimate Zombie Slayer! Epic Games Store exclusive, not available on Steam.

According to Business Insider, Twitter has made a substantial investment into hardware upgrades at its North American datacenter operation. The company has purchased somewhere in the region of 10,000 GPUs - destined for the social media giant's two remaining datacenter locations. Insider sources claim that Elon Musk has committed to a large language model (LLM) project, in an effort to rival OpenAI's ChatGPT system. The GPUs will not provide much computational value in the current/normal day-to-day tasks at Twitter - the source reckons that the extra processing power will be utilized for deep learning purposes.

Twitter has not revealed any concrete plans for its relatively new in-house artificial intelligence project but something was afoot when, earlier this year, Musk recruited several research personnel from Alphabet's DeepMind division. It was theorized that he was incubating a resident AI research lab at the time, following personal criticisms levelled at his former colleagues at OpenAI, ergo their very popular and much adopted chatbot.

Intel Foundry Services (IFS) and Arm today announced a multigeneration agreement to enable chip designers to build low-power compute system-on-chips (SoCs) on the Intel 18A process. The collaboration will focus on mobile SoC designs first, but allow for potential design expansion into automotive, Internet of Things (IoT), data center, aerospace and government applications. Arm customers designing their next-generation mobile SoCs will benefit from leading-edge Intel 18A process technology, which delivers new breakthrough transistor technologies for improved power and performance, and from IFS's robust manufacturing footprint that includes U.S.- and EU-based capacity.

"There is growing demand for computing power driven by the digitization of everything, but until now fabless customers have had limited options for designing around the most advanced mobile technology," said Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel Corporation. "Intel's collaboration with Arm will expand the market opportunity for IFS and open up new options and approaches for any fabless company that wants to access best-in-class CPU IP and the power of an open system foundry with leading-edge process technology."